Position-based admittance control of a robotic manipulator is a strategy that allows the manipulator to achieve compliance without sacrificing positional accuracy or modifying the underlying position controller. Desired manipulator stiffness and damping can be specified so that the tool tip behaves as a spring-dashpot system. This work characterizes the range of parameters that allows stable …

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Haptic simulation of medical procedures is an active area of research in engineering and medicine. Analogous to flight simulators for pilots, surgery simulators can allow medical students and doctors to practice procedures in a risk free and well monitored virtual environment. The quality of interaction that a surgery simulator can generate is dependent upon many …

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In this thesis, in order to solve the trajectory tracking control problem of parallel robotic manipulators, we propose a new control approach, termed synchronized control. In this control scheme, considering the closed-loop kinematic chain mechanism of parallel robotic manipulators, an additional feedback signal, termed the synchronization error, is employed. Different from the traditional tracking errors, …

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As control systems are becoming more and more complex, system complexity is rapidly becoming a limiting factor in the efficacy of established techniques for control systems design. To cope with the growing complexity, control architectures often have a hierarchical structure. At the base of the system pyramid lie feedback loops with simple closed-loop control laws. …

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Morphing, which changes the shape and configuration of an aircraft, is being adopted to expand mission capabilities of aircraft. The introduction of biological-inspired morphing is particularly attractive in that highly-agile birds present examples of desired shapes and configurations. A previous study adopted such morphing by designing a multiple-joint wing that represented the shoulder and elbow …

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The intervention of a human agent when a semi-autonomous navigation module is driving a mobile platform raises the shared control problem. This problem is especially complex when the semi-autonomous module and the human agent do not have the same perception system and do not avoid imminent dangers in the same way. The aim of this …

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This thesis is concerned with controlling a platoon of wheeled mobile robots WMR), where the robots are aimed to follow a trajectory while they maintain their formation intact. The control design is carried out by considering unicycle kinematics for each robot, and the leader-follower structure for the formation. It is assumed that every robot except …

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In almost all haptic simulation devices, the feedback experience is always between the tool and the environment regarding the contact points. But what if the tool position changes with the same contact points? What if those contact points surround the tool like a trocar inside an abdomen? How is the user going to feel the …

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Autonomous ground vehicles AGVs) are expected to be used extensively in unstructured, outdoor, undulating environments for tasks such as search and rescue, homeland security, fire fighting, reconnaissance, and surveillance. These tasks will greatly benefit from efficient motion planning for the AGVs, which can only be accomplished by using correct dynamic and power models of the …

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Autonomous ground vehicles AGVs) are expected to be used extensively in unstructured, outdoor, undulating environments for tasks such as search and rescue, homeland security, fire fighting, reconnaissance, and surveillance. These tasks will greatly benefit from efficient motion planning for the AGVs, which can only be accomplished by using correct dynamic and power models of the …

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